infoTECH Feature

Screen Privacy a Growing Concern for Worker Productivity

Worker productivity is one of the biggest measuring sticks businesses have when it comes to their success. A company that does not have good worker productivity is not going to have a very healthy bottom line. A new study showed some very interesting factors that will lead to pretty awful worker productivity. The Ponemon Institute (News - Alert) was commissioned by 3M to take a look at what affects worker productivity.

The major finding in this particular study was that worker productivity is hampered quite a bit if the employee believes that other people can see what they have on their screen. In total, the study found that productivity drops by a whopping 50 percent when an employee does not feel they have the right screen security.

Whether this really is a thing where employees feel as though someone is actively trying to see over their shoulder or whether it is simply a certain kind of peace of mind, employees like to know that other people aren’t able to see what they are doing.

“While many companies realize that snooping and visual privacy presents a potential data security issue, there has been little research regarding how the lack of visual privacy impacts a business’ bottom line,” said Larry Ponemon, chairman and founder of the Ponemon Institute. “As workers become more mobile and continue to work in settings where there is the potential for visual privacy concerns, companies need to find solutions to address productivity as it relates to computer visual privacy in addition to dealing with the fundamental security issues of mobile devices.”

3M (News - Alert) is putting out a line of privacy and protection tools that will allow workers to have the peace of mind that no one can see their screen. Another study that showed these kinds of findings would be useful. Most industry analysts believe that lost worked productivity counts for about $1 million a year if the company has more than 7,500 employees.

That can certainly mean the difference between a company succeeding and failing in the long run.